It is well known to use a saw blade, such as a bandsaw blade, to cut materials to a desired size. During cutting, material is removed from a work piece by a series of teeth formed into one edge of a steel strip or saw blade body which makes up the saw blade. For conventional saw blades, the teeth are manufactured such that, during operation, as the teeth pass through and remove material form the work piece, the teeth create a slot or kerf that is wider than a thickness of the saw blade. The kerf formed in the work piece allows passage of the saw blade body through the work piece during operation and minimizes saw blade binding.
The teeth of a conventional saw blade can be manufactured and arranged in various ways to ensure the generation of the kerf in a work piece during operation. In one process of saw blade manufacturing, saw blade teeth undergo a swaging procedure to widen a face portion of each tooth.
Swaging is a cold-working process in which a metal material is plastically deformed under high-pressure into a particular shape. Conventional swaging mechanisms include an anvil, such as disposed in a holder or swage head, an eccentric die, and a set of clamps, such as clamp screws. During use, a manufacturer positions a saw blade within the swaging mechanism such that a tooth to be swaged is disposed between the anvil and the die. The manufacturer actuates a pair of clamp screws disposed on opposing sides of the saw in order to secure the saw within the swaging mechanism. Next, the manufacturer adjusts the position of the anvil and the swage head such that the anvil abuts a back portion of the tooth. The anvil acts as a physical support for the tooth during the swaging process. Next, the manufacturer actuates the eccentric die which causing the die to rotate against the front portion of the tooth. This rotation flares the material of the front portion of the tooth toward either side of a centerline of the saw blade to widen the tooth relative to the saw blade body. The manufacturer then repositions the swaging mechanism relative to the next tooth to be swaged and repeats the process.